Leading national accounting and wealth advisory group Chan & Naylor has today announced the appointment of technical financial advisory specialist Damian Hearn as Senior Wealth Advisor for the firm’s Wealth Planning division. This coincides with Chan & Naylor’s focus on building a specialist financial advisory service as part of a complete suite of property accounting, asset protection and wealth creation strategies and services.
Having been involved with the financial services industry since 2000, Mr. Hearn most recently headed up the TechConnect team at IOOF, one of Australia’s largest financial advisory services companies, where he was responsible for the provision of technical support to financial advisers.
At Chan & Naylor Mr. Hearn will turn his expertise from advising financial advisers to advising clients. According to David Hasib, Partner at Chan & Naylor Wealth Planning, Mr. Hearn’s appointment is an integral part of Chan & Naylor’s future growth strategy.
“At a time when the independence of financial advice is under the spotlight, it is independent groups who offer a holistic quality value proposition that will likely grow,” said Mr. Hasib. “Meanwhile competition within the industry will increase as it is forced to get its house in order and dealer groups simultaneously ramp up their marketing efforts to accountants, who will have to operate within the confines of new licensing requirements from 2016 onwards.”
According to Ken Raiss, Managing Director of Chan & Naylor, major changes in the recent Federal Budget that come into effect in on 1st January 2015 will impact many older Australians who could benefit from the availability of broader independent financial advice.
“This is an opportunity for existing and new clients, particularly those who will be impacted by changes to the assessment of age pension and seniors health card entitlements,
to better navigate the minefields of coming changes through proactive forward planning and decisive action such as locking in their entitlements under the current rules,” said Mr. Raiss.
Chan & Naylor’s ongoing commitment to providing its clients with a complete 360 degree service proposition was a key reason for Mr. Hearn joining the firm.
“Successful people want to surround themselves with other successful people, and I believe that as the financial outlook for many Australians looks increasingly uncertain there is even more imperative for advice that offers strong technical acumen and reflects the breadth of financial services that will serve clients throughout their lifetime,” said Mr. Hearn, adding that the strong ties between Chan & Naylor’s financial advice and accounting teams provided an attractive synergy that is working well.
“Being part of an independent national network with a presence in metropolitan, suburban and regional parts of Australia was a strong draw card for me, as was the opportunity to working with a myriad of clients who share the common goal of wanting to achieve financial independence.”
Before IOOF Mr. Hearn worked at Perpetual Private Clients as a Technical Services Manager providing advice to high net worth and emerging wealthy individuals. Prior to this he worked at ASGARD Wealth Solutions and Colonial First State.
